Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Raman Singh has stated that the upcoming polls in the five states might not be a deciding factor for the 2019 general elections. However, he acknowledged that it might have some impact on the Lok Sabha elections next year.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls when the BJP won the elections with a thumping majority, the states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan played a huge role in garnering votes to BJP.
Many political analysts have also asserted that upcoming assembly polls in five states Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana and Mizoram to be the semi-finals before the 2019 Lok Sabha election.
Raman Singh, who has been in the power for 15 years is confident of winning another term. He had also denied any influence of Congress president Rahul Gandhi‘s promise of waiving off loan for the farmers in his state in the upcoming assembly elections claiming that farmers here have already been given zero-interest rate loans.
In an interview to PTI he said that the people of his state are supporting him and there is a “pro-incumbency” wave in the state. He further claimed that the government has done effective work in the agriculture sector and various other public sectors.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders have been talking a lot about a strong anti-incumbency wave against the current ruling party as it has been in power since a decade and a half. With the recent Naxal violence in the state, the opposition leaders are criticizing the government in their campaign rallies.
However, the CM has acknowledged the fear of people because of Naxals and has said that it would be his priority to ensure peace in the naxal affected region if voted to power again.
The 18 constituencies that is going to polls in the first phase including Singh’s Rajnandgaon assembly constituency is a naxal dominated area.
Chhattisgarh will conduct the polls for first phase on November 12 while the remaining 72 seats in the state will go to polls in the second phase on November 20. The counting of votes will be done o December 11 along with that of other 4 poll bound states.